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Need to replace external HD on HR22 but want to get an HR34 soon?

I have an DirecTv HR22 with an external 2 TB hard drive (in place for about two years). Starting a couple weeks ago the programs (live or playback) started to stutter; sometimes backing up would replay without the stutter, other times the stutter was permanent. I guessed that the hard disk was going bad, but I did not have time (was leaving on a trip) to get it backed up / Ghosted.

Overnight last night, the system froze (still playing the channel it was on, but everything else being completely unresponsive) and the disk activity light on the external hard disk was solid on (usually blinks irregularly when working).

Have rebooted a few times: First couple times actually got a disk error message saying found 28 errors, repaired 0 errors. (I have never gotten this type of message before.) It would run as if it was doing a fsck (file system check), but eventually it recycled itself and re-started over. I let it proceed two or three times like this, but no progress was being made. So I rebooted again (ran this cycle a couple times) including powering down the both devices and unplugging them, stating the external disk first, etc., then the DVR. Now I am to the point that the DVR is not recognizing at all that an external is attached -- the DVR is using the internal hard disk instead. While again powered down and unplugged, I have reseated all cables, etc. with no improvement.

So, I believe the external hard disk has gone bad.

a) Does this seem to be a reasonable assumption?

(If so, I know I have lost everything.)

I was going to test the external by attaching it to my OTHER HR22 DVR, but reading elsewhere in this forum, I have gotten the impression that DirecTv DVRs will not allow moving one external hard disk to another DVR.

Am I correct that moving a working (if it is actually functional) external hard drive to another HR22 will not be successful?

d) Are there any suggestions or website links for attaching this type of external hard drive to a computer system (the native operating system on all my computers is Ubuntu Linux) and diagnosing problems and/or doing a proper fsck?

So, next steps....

If I have to get a new external hard drive, I was thinking about getting one larger than my current 2 TB.

e) Will HR22 support an external hard drive larger than 2 TB?

f) Below 30% available on the 2 TB external drive, the HR22 performance (display of playlist, etc.) declines dramatically (for me). I am guessing that even if a 3 or 4 TB were supported, the HR22 does not have the horsepower to deal with a larger drive as it gets fuller???

BUT....

I would like to replace my primary HR22 with the new HR34 Genie and change over to whole-house, etc. .... but was hoping to wait until they offered some sort of pricing deal to existing subscribers (they want $299 + $49 installation at this moment).

g) Again regarding other postings about moving external hard drives from one DVR to another, it sounds like I would lose all content and scheduling on the external hard drive if I moved it from an HR22 to a new HR34. Is that correct?

h) Lastly, I have not been able to get any confirmation from DirecTv that the HR34 has a faster processor or faster throughput to be able to better handle a larger (3-4 TB) hard drive. They can't tell me anything about speed/performance. Can anybody confirm my assumption that the HR34 is bigger, better, faster?

Yes, the HR34 is bigger, better, and faster in most respects than the fastest, currently the HR24. It's faster in all respects than the '22.. Others may give more detail, but I am out the door in a minute.

Main caution: attaching your external to another HRxx will do bad things. Maybe reformat, but if you hope to recover anything, I wouldn't do it. Perhaps run disk repair overnight?

Also, I have read about folks using a 3 o4 4 TB drive on the Genie, but haven't done it myself.